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AKA Human Resource Challenges to Light Your Fire

Today I’m going to step on some toes. I’m going to push you a little bit. And you know what? That’s a good thing. We all need a little bit of that in order to be the best that we can be. Today we’re going to look at 50 human resource challenges that I’m laying down for you. Below the list, you will find some instructions on how to utilize this information to the fullest extent (click here to jump to the instructions). It’s up to you to decide how you want to handle it, but you have a chance to radically impact your career if you take the time and effort. Your call.

Take a peek at your training that you offer (you do offer some, right?). Is there anything you can do to increase the impact of the training you provide or increase the offerings to your employees? Maybe throwing in cost-effective lunch and learn events or something more? Check out the free training eBook to get started.

Write a guest post for a blog. It’s not as scary as it sounds. Think of one of those crazy HR stories or one of the big “aha!” moments you’ve had as an HR pro. Write it down. Email it to an HR blogger. If you don’t know who to share it with, I’d be happy to help. Here’s some motivation.

Develop a succession plan for your key employees. If one of the employees was hit by the proverbial bus and could not work, how would you keep things going? Is there a plan in place? What if a handful of your senior employees decided to retire at once?

Network with other HR pros. You never know what valuable information a random contact might have that could help you in the future. You can do this via social media, local meetings, or internally if you work for a large company.

Determine your sources of hire and which ones provide the best candidates. Maybe it’s employee referrals. Maybe it’s your social media efforts. Whatever the case, focus on getting more people from the source that provides the highest-quality employees.

Unplug, take a few steps back, get some perspective, and have some fun; then jump right back in with a smile on your face. This should only feel like work part of the time!

And that, my friends, is the list of 50 human resources challenges.

Instructions for the human resource challenges

I’ll wait a second for you to grab a pen and a notepad, because this is meant to be an interactive exercise.

Got it? Okay, great. Here’s what you need to do. First, start reading through this list. When you come across an idea that might be interesting or valuable to you, just jot down the number and keep going. Try to pick out at least three items from this list. It’s okay to do more (or less), but with three solid, pertinent options you will be less likely to skip this exercise altogether. At this point your list should look like this:

#7

#18

#44

Next I want you to go back through the numbers you wrote down and re-read that particular HR challenge. Think of what you’d have to do as the very first step to make this activity happen, and write that down next to the number. If the following steps immediately come to you, feel free to get those on paper while they are fresh. Do this for each of the numbers you wrote down. Now your notes should be a little more detailed.

#7 Set up a meeting with our managers, explain an autonomy audit, and give them support.

#18 Set a date, pick a study tool, and commit. Study group?

#44 Check out the Taproot website. Any projects I can help with?

Now for the “hard” part. Take those notes that you have, type them up in an email, and add the paragraph below to the top of the email. Then send that to another HR person that you trust to hold you accountable. They aren’t going to beat you up, but they will gently encourage you to pursue the challenges that you’ve listed for yourself. Some of these are big challenges, and others small, so it really can help to have someone else to do this exercise with. Oh, and feel free to send the link to this article to them so they can choose their own challenges as well.

Hey! I found this neat list of 50 human resources challenges online, and I am participating in an exercise to help me overcome the challenges that are especially fitting for me. I am reaching out to you to see if you would have a few minutes to respond back and give me some encouragement to face these issues.

The whole point is for this to be more than just any old article that you read and toss to the side. It’s a chance for you to really make a difference in what you do! If you have more human resource challenges ideas to add to the list, feel free to drop them in the comments below.

This is an awesome list but I think we take it for granted in the field when we create portals for common questions that our employees will use it. Many older employees still like face to face interaction so I love the idea but we should make sure everyone is trained to use the portals but are welcome to contact us if needed as well.

[…] of them can make a difference! (If you’re looking for more ideas, check out this list of 50 HR challenges.) Remember, great companies don’t just happen. They are intentional creations that require […]